dewtech: Hey, sorry if i'm writing this too late, but an idea to think about would be to give the tar.gz files for advanced users and for newcomers to start using Flatpaks? It should relieve newer users from making links with .so files and having to solve dependency hells as it packages every dependency inside the package itself. Just my 2 cents and an idea to maybe think about :)
We aim for all Linux games sold on GOG.com to work right away on any modern Linux distribution. However, sometimes it's just out of our hands. In such cases we face the choice to either ask our users to install some dependencies manually or to not release a Linux build at all.
We are watching the new packaging and distribution formats closely but for now they don't offer enough to consider applying them to our uses. Flatpak isn't any better in terms of user experience since it requires extra steps to get it to work. Are there any problems in particular you have with our installers?
Pangaea666: Main question I have is whether there is serious work going on to get Linux releases for games that currently do not have one.
We are constantly working on expanding our Linux offer. When there is something missing, common reasons for that are either technical or legal, for example:
- Major technical obstacle discovered during our QA process, such as gamebreaking bugs, overcomplicated installation process, issues with Galaxy features integration or in rare cases even third-party DRM in builds sent by publisher;
- A deal for publishing the Linux version wasn’t signed / agreed to;
- Developer turned down our request to supply a Linux version of their game.
kneekoo: Are there any chances that you publish the GOG Galaxy API so people can create an open source client?
I have nothing to share here, sorry.